Do you think Zimmerman will be convicted of murder?

All he has to do is to create a "reasonable doubt" as to whether he acted in self-defense. A proposed amendment to the Florida Jury Instructions makes that perfectly clear.
Six years ago in Murray v. State, 937 So.2d 277, 279 (Fla. 4th Dist. 2006), the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Florida ruled that once a defendant in a criminal case has introduced proof that he acted in self-defense the jury is entitled to consider the defense, and the jury may not convict the defendant unless it finds beyond a reasonable that he did not act in self-defense. The Fourth District Court of Appeal stated:

How interesting, but doesn't this presuppose the case must be presented to a jury?

BillRM just plain doesn't understand that, when someone kills another person, the burden of proof is on them to prove or establish that it was justifiable self defense--that's their defense to a criminal charge

Considerations
Even in the case of an intruder in the home, under the old Castle Doctrine, use of deadly force is limited. The use of force must be proportionate to the threat, limiting deadly force to extreme cases, or at least to cases where a clear physical danger is present. Pre-emptive use of force to neutralize a threat can fall under self-defense, but if an assailant ceases to be a threat, self-defense no longer applies. Self-defense does not justify retaliatory attack after a crime has taken place, such as a rape victim who later tracks down and kills the rapist. Florida's self-defense laws, however, have significantly modified several of these limitations.



Read more: About Florida Self-Defense Laws | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_4577787_florida-selfdefense-laws.html#ixzz1t7NIoIlZ

The burden is on the prosecution to disprove the claim in order to bring charges

Is that not a bummer for people who wish to hang Zimmerman for daring to defend himself.

During the time Zimmerman was in hiding, his detractors defined him as a vigilante who had decided Martin was suspicious merely because he was black. After Zimmerman was finally arrested on a charge of second-degree murder more than six weeks after the shooting, prosecutors portrayed him as a violent and angry man who disregarded authority by pursuing the 17-year-old.
But a more nuanced portrait of Zimmerman has emerged from a Reuters investigation into Zimmerman's past and a series of incidents in the community in the months preceding the Martin shooting.
Based on extensive interviews with relatives, friends, neighbors, schoolmates and co-workers of Zimmerman in two states, law enforcement officials, and reviews of court documents and police reports, the story sheds new light on the man at the center of one of the most controversial homicide cases in America.
The 28-year-old insurance-fraud investigator comes from a deeply Catholic background and was taught in his early years to do right by those less fortunate. He was raised in a racially integrated household and himself has black roots through an Afro-Peruvian great-grandfather - the father of the maternal grandmother who helped raise him.
A criminal justice student who aspired to become a judge, Zimmerman also concerned himself with the safety of his neighbors after a series of break-ins committed by young African-American men.
Though civil rights demonstrators have argued Zimmerman should not have prejudged Martin, one black neighbor of the Zimmermans said recent history should be taken into account.
"Let's talk about the elephant in the room. I'm black, OK?" the woman said, declining to be identified because she anticipated backlash due to her race. She leaned in to look a reporter directly in the eyes. "There were black boys robbing houses in this neighborhood," she said. "That's why George was suspicious of Trayvon Martin..
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EMMANUEL BURGESS - SETTING THE STAGE
On February 2, 2012, Zimmerman placed a call to Sanford police after spotting a young black man he recognized peering into the windows of a neighbor's empty home, according to several friends and neighbors.
"I don't know what he's doing. I don't want to approach him, personally," Zimmerman said in the call, which was recorded. The dispatcher advised him that a patrol car was on the way. By the time police arrived, according to the dispatch report, the suspect had fled.
On February 6, the home of another Twin Lakes resident, Tatiana Demeacis, was burglarized. Two roofers working directly across the street said they saw two African-American men lingering in the yard at the time of the break-in. A new laptop and some gold jewelry were stolen. One of the roofers called police the next day after spotting one of the suspects among a group of male teenagers, three black and one white, on bicycles.
Police found Demeacis's laptop in the backpack of 18-year-old Emmanuel Burgess, police reports show, and charged him with dealing in stolen property. Burgess was the same man Zimmerman had spotted on February 2.
Burgess had committed a series of burglaries on the other side of town in 2008 and 2009, pleaded guilty to several, and spent all of 2010 incarcerated in a juvenile facility, his attorney said. He is now in jail on parole violations.
Three days after Burgess was arrested, Zimmerman's grandmother was hospitalized for an infection, and the following week his father was also admitted for a heart condition. Zimmerman spent a number of those nights on a hospital room couch.
Ten days after his father was hospitalized, Zimmerman noticed another young man in the neighborhood, acting in a way he found familiar, so he made another call to police.
"We've had some break-ins in my neighborhood, and there's a real suspicious guy," Zimmerman said, as Trayvon Martin returned home from the store.
The last time Zimmerman had called police, to report Burgess, he followed protocol and waited for police to arrive. They were too late, and Burgess got away.
This time, Zimmerman was not so patient, and he disregarded police advice against pursuing Martin.

Why don't you just wait for it to get to court and see what evidence both sides present?

I really think the racial component of this fiasco has been greatly over played.
Remove race from the situation and we have, well, the exact same situation.

It does say something about our society and not a good thing for sure.

Actually, Bill, some of the stuff you are saying on this issue says something about a segment of society that disgusts me.
The fact that there are people here agreeing with your take...disheartens me. In any case,
that a segment of our society feels the way you folk do, in my opinion,
is not a good thing for our nation or for humanity in general.

So u think that if thay 'd both been whites,
then Sharpton and Jesse Jackson woud have
inflicted such public hysteria upon us??????? Right ?

I don 't think so.

So u think that if thay 'd both been whites,
then Sharpton and Jesse Jackson woud have
inflicted such public hysteria upon us??????? Right ?

I don 't think so.

Even more fun think about the likely outcome if Zimmerman had been a black man and Trayvon had been white.

Can you just see Sharpton and his like yelling their heads off over Zimmerman being charge?

Not that long ago a white kid was attacked and knock unconscious from behind by a group of black
kids for the sole reason that he was white and Al and others yell their heads off
for the state using the hate crime laws.

The true racists are the Sharptons of the world.

roger wrote:

I really think the racial component of this fiasco has been greatly over played.
Remove race from the situation and we have, well, the exact same situation.

So u think that if thay 'd both been whites,
then Sharpton and Jesse Jackson woud have
inflicted such public hysteria upon us??????? Right ?

I don 't think so.





David

I don't see how they caused any public hysteria other than RW hysteria like yours.

OmSigDAVID wrote:

roger wrote:

I really think the racial component of this fiasco has been greatly over played.
Remove race from the situation and we have, well, the exact same situation.

So u think that if thay 'd both been whites,
then Sharpton and Jesse Jackson woud have
inflicted such public hysteria upon us??????? Right ?

I don 't think so.





David

The funny thing is, I haven't seen Sharpton or Jackson in any news reports.